Tarnished Silver Cleaning: Polishing Silver

One of the ways I clean my tarnished silverware is by using water, salt and baking soda. Depending on the size of the items to be cleaned, you need a big enough aluminum container so you can put every piece in. If you don't have an aluminum vessel, then use any regular container and add aluminum foil like in the picture to the left.

First add the salt and the baking soda (one tablespoon each) on the top of the silverware. Next pour hot water over everything in the bowl to cover the silverware pieces.

Now use a spoon (wooden spoon is ok) to mix the powders in the water so they disolve.

Some people like to put the tarnished silverware into the water after everything is added and mixed, but I found it doesn't really matter what you put first as long as the silverware stays in the bowl for a good couple of minutes until you see the tarnish is leaving.

Note: avoid using this procedure for silver jewelry with gemstones because the mix of salt and baking soda will eat away at your stones and damage them.

This is where I use my Lortone tumbler to polish silver. One one of the benefits of using a Lortone is that you can use it with gemstone silver jewelry as well, since a tumbler is used for polishing stones anyway. The only gems you should avoid adding to a Lortone is pearls because they are extremely soft, and they will get scratched (no exceptions).

If you don't have yet a Lortone tumbler for cleaning your silver jewelry, you don't know what you're missing. I'm using my Lortone almost on a daily basis.

I use it after I've finished a jewelry piece to get it sparkly and shiny, and I also use it now and then on tarnished jewelry - before I sell a piece or simply before I want to use something I've done ages ago and haven't bothered with keeping it tarnish free in the first place.

So how do you polish your silver jewelry using a Lortone tumbler?

What you need:

Your silver jewelry

The Lortone tumbler

Tumbling media (stainless steel tumbling shot)

Some soapy liquid (I use Palmolive dishwashing liquid)

How to polish tarnished silver jewelry step by step:

1. First add the tumbling shot to the tumbler barrel. Don't fill the barrel with more than 1/3 full shot
2. Add the jewelry pieces in it (If you also have gold or copper pieces to tumble, don't mix them in with silver, else you'll change the color of the silver - happened to me! Tumble each material separately)
3. Add water to the barrel just enough to cover everything + about 1 inch more
4. Add just a few drops of dishwashing liquid to the water. The US folks like to use Dawn, but as I live in Europe, I don't have that. But any liquid that you use to wash your dishes will work just fine.
5. Close the lid tightly and place the barrel on the tumbler. Check for any leaking
6. Start the tumbler and leave it to work for a while until the jewelry is clean. For cleaning purposes I usually leave the jewelry in for about half an hour. If you also want to harden the silver wire (for example for chainmail jewelry), you can leave it in for even 24 hours.
7. Stop the tumbler, remove the lid and remove your silver jewelry from the barrel
8. You can pour out the dirty water into the sink, but make sure you don't throw out the stainless steel shot down the drain. The steel shot is not cheap to buy in the first place, so don't lose it!
9. Next rinse your jewelry from the dishwashing liquid, and then put it on a clean cloth or a kitchen towel (I prefer the paper towel as it absorbs the water much faster) to dry.
10. Clean well your barrels and take out the shot to dry. While the stainless steel shot usually doesn't get rust on it (that's why you buy stainless steel in the first place), one never really knows the quality of the steel shot they bought, so better be safe than sorry.

Now your jewelry is shiny and beautiful again, ready to be sold to your customer, or to be worn (if it's your own).

How To Polish Stones
Read this article if you want to learn how to polish rocks by tumbling stones